Jain Journal 1973 01

SR No.: 520029
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication
Publication Year: 1973
Total Pages: 60
Language: English
Classification: Magazine, India_Jain Journal, & India
File Size: 3 MB

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JAIN JOURNAL
under review, nor has it opened a new outlook for mankind. Conceptually too, to Gandhi, truth was above ahimsā, his visible God, so to say, whereas in Jainism, ahimsā is the highest religion, above everything else, in which are contained truth, non-possession, non-theft and non-sex. In any case, the author deserves congratulation for providing a very necessary break-through and drawing attention to the need of studying ahimsā in Jainism. Other researchers may in future follow this lead.
3. Since our ancient forefathers, even when they were savants, had a tendency to exaggerate their own things and express them in superlatives, literary evidence coming down to us from prehistoric times has not been made much use of in the construction of history. It has been rejected on the ground of being'unscientific and has served only the needs of the pious hearts. But it is now gradually dawning that this wholesale rejection of literary evidence in the construction of history may not in itself be wholly scientific, and where at least there is a chance of checking the authenticity of a statement from one source with a statement on the same subject from another source, that statement should be deemed to be correct and should be cosidered good as a source material for history.
It is well-known that Jainism as preached by Mahavira existed about the same time and in the same region side by side with Buddhism as propounded by Gautama Buddha, and as both had developed outside the pale of Vedic Hinduism, with a similar emphasis on ahimsā and purity of life, there exists a widespread belief that they influenced each other and made references to each other. In other words, what is believed is that there is a lot of Buddhism in Jainism, as there is a lot of Jainism in Buddhism, and that, therefore, the literature of the two must be a potential field for the gleaning of common items by contemporary researches. It was this sort of interest that seems to have attracted Dr. Bhagchandra Jain to a thorough study of Buddhist literature in a Buddhist University in a Buddhist country under the guidance of Buddhist scholars, the outcome of which has been a very interesting and useful work which is under review. Undoubtedly, it is a very learned production, and will remain a standard work for many years to come. The author did well not to publish it in the form in which it earned him his Degree, but allowed years to lapse, so that what he has now given us is a more mature product.
The author has done a great service in breaking the myth that there is a lot of Jainism in the Buddhist literature. In fact, references are not many. This is not wholly unexpected, since though Mahavira and